PC-BSD® 9.2 uses pkgng, the next generation package management system for FreeBSD. All of the PC-BSD® utilities that deal with installing or updating non-PBI software now use the pkgng system. This allows users to safely install non-PBI software from the command line without that software being deleted by a system upgrade.

Since FreeBSD does not have an official pkgng repository yet, the PC-BSD® project provides its own repository containing all of the packages that can be built using pkgng.

PC-BSD® provides a custom command, pc-pkg, which is a small wrapper to pkg. When pc-pkg is used with the install or upgrade flags, it will automatically connect to the PC-BSD® pkgng repository using the integrated aria2 downloader utility, which can significantly reduce download speeds over a slow link.

If you are used to using the traditional FreeBSD package system, take note that the commands used to install and manage software differ slightly. For example, instead of using pkg_add to install a package from a remote repository, use pkg install or pc-pkg install (notice there is now a space instead of an underscore).

The FreeBSD Handbook provides an introduction to using pkgng. Section 5.5.1 is not needed on a PC-BSD® or TrueOS® system as the operating system installation does this for you. The various pkgng commands have associated man pages. Type man pkg for an overview of general usage; the names of the associated man pages will be found towards the bottom of this man page. Once you know the name of a command, you can also use the built-in help system to get more information about that command. For example, to learn more about pkg install, type pkg help install.

pc-metapkgmanager

pc-metapkgmanager is the back-end command line utility used by the PC-BSD® installer, Update Manager, and Warden® to manage meta-packages. Meta-packages are like system components, and include supported and unsupported desktops, development utilities, hardware drivers, and miscellaneous applications such as MythTV or XBMC.

Beginning with version 9.1, PC-BSD® uses metapkgsets to determine which system components are available and which applications are installed with each system component. Currently, two metapkgsets are available: pcbsd which defines the available desktop components, and warden which defines the components available when creating a jail with Warden® or installing a PC-BSD® server. You can view the contents of these metapkgsets on trac[1].

The pc-metapkgmanager command can be used at the command line to install or delete meta-packages, update to the latest package set, or to change the default metapkgset. If you type the command without any options, it will display its usage:

pc-metapkgmanager

usage: pc-metapkgmanager [options]
Options:
add pkg1,pkg2 <loc> -- Add the specified list of meta-packages
<loc> should be a FTP / HTTP url where pkg_add
can fetch packages, or an absolute path to
location of pkg files on disk.
checkup -- Check for updates to pkgs
del pkg1,pkg2 -- Delete the specified list of meta-packages
list -- List the available meta-packages
status <pkg> -- List the status of the specified meta-packages
update pkg,pkg2 <loc> -- Update system packages. Can use 'all' or <pkg,pkg2>.
<loc> should be a FTP / HTTP url where pkg_add
can fetch packages, or an absolute path to
location of pkg files on disk.
--pkgset <pkgset> -- Change default pkgset we are using

To delete an installed meta-package, specify its name. Only the superuser can uninstall meta-packages. As seen in the following example, pc-metapkgmanager automatically determines which dependent packages are still needed by other applications and which can be safely removed.

Upgrading Meta-Packages

pc-metapkgmanager can also be used to determine if any meta-packages are out of date and to update meta-packages. To determine if any meta-packages have newer versions:

pc-metapkgmanager checkup
All packages are up to date!

In this example, all meta-packages are at their latest versions. If any were out of date, you would instead receive the message "The following package updates are available:" followed by the names of the out-of-date meta-packages.

To update a meta-package, use the pc-metapkgmanager update command followed by the name of the specific meta-package or the word all to update all out-of-date meta-packages.